MINUTES OF MEETING COPPER OAKS
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT
The special meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Copper Oaks Community Development District was held on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. at 20699 Three Oaks Parkway, Estero, Florida.

Present and constituting a quorum were:

Robert Hillard	Chairman
Jeff Ocean	Vice Chairman
Gary Longardo	Assistant Secretary
Timothy Murphy	Assistant Secretary

Also present were:

Paul Winkeljohn	District Manager
Michael Pawelczyk	District Counsel (by phone)

(PLEASE NOTE: Due to audio recording difficulties, these minutes were transcribed to the best of our ability.)

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS	Roll Call
Mr. Winkeljohn called the meeting to order and called the roll.
Mr. Winkeljohn: We’re going to use some AI transcription software so if you could each say your names for the record that would be appreciated.

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS	Organizational Matters
Consideration of Appointment of Supervisor(s0 to Unexpired Terms of Office - Seat #5 (11/2024)
Oath of Office for Elected/Newly Appointed Supervisor(s)
Election of Officer(s)
Mr. Winkeljohn: I don’t believe the Board has anyone they want to appoint to the open seat, so we can just move to the next item.

THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS	Approval of the Minutes of the
February 19, 2025 Meeting
Mr. Winkeljohn: The minutes from the February 19th meeting have been circulated, if those are in order a motion to accept would be welcomed.

On MOTION by Mr. Murphy seconded by Mr. Ocean with all in favor, the Minutes of the February 19, 2025, Meeting were approved.

FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Public Hearing to Adopt the Fiscal
Year 2026 Budget
Motion to Open the Public Hearing
Mr. Winkeljohn: I’m sure you understand the reason we moved the meeting to today’s date so that we could meet the State Statute to have our budget adopted in time and we’re well ahead of that of course, and so we set the public hearing today for the 2025/2026 fiscal year budget, is there a motion to open the hearing?

On MOTION by Mr. Longardo seconded by Mr. Ocean with all in favor, opening the Public Hearing was approved.

Mr. Ocean: I have a question, why do you say, any opposed?
Mr. Winkeljohn: If I think that it’s a debatable type of a motion, then I would take any opposed comments.
Mr. Ocean: Ok, alright, we can move on.
Mr. Winkeljohn: And if somebody objects, be sure to speak up.

Public Comment and Discussion
Consideration of Resolution #2025-05 Annual Appropriation Resolution
Mr. Winkeljohn: So at this time we would take public comment, and glance around the virtual room, I’m not seeing any public in attendance. How are you there for residents of the public?
Mr. Ocean: Nobody here.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Ok, so resolution #2025-05 covers the annual appropriate resolution for the next year’s budget, and we’ve had no reason to increase our assessments and so staff is recommending the same assessment.  If there are any

questions or discussion, I can take those, otherwise a motion to execute resolution #2025-05 would be welcomed.

On MOTION by Mr. Ocean seconded by Mr. Murphy with all in favor, Resolution #2025-05 the Annual Appropriation Resolution was approved.

Consideration of Resolution #2025-06 Levy of Non Ad Valorem Assessments
Mr. Winkeljohn: And with the assessment and the budget adopted, we need resolution #2025-06 for the collection method which is the Non Ad Valorem procedure on the tax roll, a motion to approve would be welcomed.

On MOTION by Mr. Longardo seconded by Mr. Ocean with all in favor, Resolution #2025-06 Levy of Non Ad Valorem Assessments was approved.

Motion to Close the Public Hearing
Mr. Winkeljohn: At this time then we can now close the public hearing, is there a motion?

On MOTION by Mr. Murphy seconded by Mr. Ocean with all in favor, closing the Public Hearing was approved.

FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Audit Selection Committee Meeting
Opening Audit Selection Committee Meeting
Roll Call
Ranking of Respondents to RFP
Adjournment
Mr. Winkeljohn: We also have another special part of the meeting to select the new auditor, and when we do our auditors they’re allowed to offer, I think the last time was 5 years of proposals and you can renew them each year which we’ve done but, at the end of that we have to start over and so we have the audit selection committee meeting. You all have selected yourselves as the audit selection committee you’ve already proposed and approved the criteria in our previous meeting and so at this time we would call the audit selection committee meeting to order. So, in your packets would be the responses of the interested parties, and I’m moving my screen to that, and you had two firms that replied,

Berger, Toombs and Grau & Associates, and I can give you a little bit of background on them. Both of them are highly qualified CDD accounting firms, they specialize in it, so in essence you would score them all fairly equal in that respect. You’re welcome to review it and discuss it but, I can kind of cut to the chance for you, they also provided their pricing which was between the two of them a $7,200 different between Berger, Toombs being the higher firm and Grau & Associates being less expensive. They gave you 9 years of pricing, which is the most I think I’ve ever seen, I didn’t know they could go that far but, that’s wonderful to lock in your price for 9 years. So, you as the audit selection committee would rank these respondents and the shortcut would be to discuss it among yourselves, and say, I would entertain a motion, and see if anybody supports it to rank them #1 and #2, either Berger, Toombs #1 and the other one #2.
Mr. Murphy: Does everybody agree it’s Grau?
Mr. Hillard: I don’t see any reason to change, they’ve been very efficient, and they’re cheaper.
Mr. Winkeljohn: So, is there a motion?

On MOTION by Mr. Ocean seconded by Mr. Longardo with all in favor, ranking of respondents, ranking Grau & Associates as the #1 ranked auditing firm and Berger, Toombs as #2 was approved.

Mr. Winkeljohn: And that concludes our audit selection committee meeting.

SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Selection of Audit Firms
Mr. Winkeljohn: So, at the end, after we do that, now we’re back in our regular meeting, and I can report that the audit selection committee ranked Grau & Associates as #1,and Berger, Toombs as #2, is there a motion to authorize an engagement with Grau & Associates based on that ranking?

On MOTION by Mr. Longardo seconded by Mr. Ocean with all in favor, selecting Grau & Associates to serve as the auditing firm for the District and authorizing staff to enter into an agreement was approved.

SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Staff Reports
Mr. Winkeljohn: That brings us to staff reports, and we have Mike with us today, Mike how are you?

Attorney
Mr. Pawelczyk: Fine, and you all certainly make these meeting easy, and I know Paul and I both appreciate that but, the only thing I have is, and I’ll kind of jump on what the manager is going to report on which is on page 99 of your agenda. It’s just a reminder to file your Form 1 statement of financial interest and make sure you comply with your 4 hours of ethics training. So, unless anyone has any questions, I had circulated for another Board some links with respect to ethics training, I will circulate that among you all as well.
Mr. Winkeljohn: And Mike, just to let you know, I put it on every District website, those links.
Mr. Pawelczyk: Oh, it’s on there already, good, ok. Well, I don’t know if the same links are there, but we’ll double check and if not we’ll send them forward.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Yes, your last memo, the one you just sent. Mr. Pawelczyk: Oh, the one for Orchid Grove?
Mr. Winkeljohn: Yes, I went ahead and had my IT people put it on every website.
Mr. Pawelczyk: Ok, so the Commission on Ethics Training is actually on the website for Copper Oaks and you can pull it up there but, if you need something from either Paul’s office or my office, just let us know and we’ll get it to you, otherwise, I don’t have anything to report.
Mr. Winkeljohn: So, every District has a website and we keep the statutory information on there and then anything else that’s helpful, so it’s www.copperoakscdd.com.
Mr. Pawelczyk: And it’s listed at the end of your agenda.
Mr. Winkeljohn: So, if it’s not on there, it will be probably by tomorrow or Monday.
Mr. Pawelczyk To make it easier for you all, I’ll just forward it tomorrow, it’s just an email that I have already drafted, so I’ll forward it to everybody and that way you’ll have it in your email and eventually on the website, so you’ll be able to find it when you go look for it.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Thanks Mike, Mr. Ocean: Thank you.

Mr. Pawelczyk: You’re welcome.

Engineer
Mr. Winkeljohn: The next item is a quick update, the engineer was not available for today’s meeting and he did not have anything formal to update you with, I spoke to him Tuesday at another meeting and he said, in the next few weeks the design for the parcel to your south, he should have that available for discussion and circulation, so we don’t have anything today for that but, keep your eyes out for that, that’s going to be exciting.
Mr. Ocean: Will he be able to send a package to each of us?
Mr. Winkeljohn: Yes, once he’s allowed to go public, if you know what I mean, you guys will be the first people we share it with.
Mr. Ocean: Alright, thank you. Mr. Winkeljohn: Absolutely.

Property Manager
Mr. Winkeljohn: Nothing under the property manager.

Manager
Consideration of Proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Meeting Schedule
Discussion of Financial Disclosure Report from the Commission on Ethics and Reminder to File Annual Form
Number of Registered Voters in the District - 492
Mr. Winkeljohn: I do have a couple more items, the meeting schedule for next year, we’re going to meet at the same frequency like we always do, we hold meetings when necessary, is there a motion to accept next year’s meeting schedule? So, in your packet is also next year’s meeting schedule which is the same date and time we’ve always met, so if that’s ok I need a motion accepting the meeting schedule.

On MOTION by Mr. Ocean seconded by Mr. Murphy with all in favor, accepting the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Meeting Schedule was approved.

Mr. Winkeljohn: And Mike was already able to touch on your annual renewal forms, you should start to see the emails probably early June, last year they came out right at the end of May, I believe, and I think most of you didn’t have any trouble going through and

clicking on the site, and filling in your form. Also, this year you’ll check that you did the ethics training.
Mr. Pawelczyk: Correct.

EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Financial Reports
Approval of Check Run Summary
Acceptance of Unaudited Financials
Mr. Winkeljohn: The next item for approval are the financial reports, there’s a check run summary and unaudited financials in your packets, if those are acceptable, a motion would be appreciated. Is there a motion?
Mr. Pawelczyk: And Paul, just to remind you, you just want to announced the registered voter number.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Yes, thank you, your registered voters in the District are 492 living in your District. Are there any questions on the financials? The check run is on page 101, and one of the expenses you had since our last meeting is, we did repair the chemical tank transducer which reduces the metal staining.
Mr. Longardo: What about the maintenance for that?
Mr. Winkeljohn: That’s a monthly maintenance the transducer was $2,600.
Mr. Longardo: Ok. (inaudible comment) So, the $386.26 repeats three times for irrigation monitoring what is that?
Mr. Winkeljohn: That’s the monthly service check from Hoover, they come out and check the pump and make sure everything is working.
Mr. Longardo: Ok.
Mr. Winkeljohn: And I think that’s their remote fee. Mr. Longardo: (inaudible comment)
Mr. Winkeljohn: They do both.
Mr. Longardo: (inaudible comment)
Mr. Winkeljohn:	Great, any other questions?	Ok, so you’re on page 1, and I’m having a little trouble hearing you, Tim your voice is off the microphone a little bit.
Mr. Murphy: Ok, never mind.
Mr. Winkeljohn: No problem, is there a motion to accept the financials?

On MOTION by Mr. Murphy seconded by Mr. Ocean with all in favor, the check run summary and unaudited financials were approved.

NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Supervisor’s	Requests	and
Audience Comments
Mr. Winkeljohn: I have no more action items for you all. If there are any questions or comments I can take them, or we can adjourn the meeting.
Mr. Longardo: (inaudible comment)
Mr. Ocean: The back lake, was that lake ever dredged and cleaned?
Mr. Winkeljohn: I can’t say but, your lake contractor could probably do what’s called a mechanical removal and it would be a great idea. So, our maintenance as you know is delegated to the homeowners association, they oversee the lake contractor, all they have to do is order it and send us the bill.
Mr. Ocean: Alright, then what I will do is I’ll suggest that.
Mr. Winkeljohn: And today, while we’re all together we might put a cap on it, it could be a crazy number, so if you put an amount of money you’re willing to not exceed that might be a great idea.
Mr. Ocean: Well, I’m going say I don’t know what the range would be but, what I was going to say is, if we turn this over to the homeowners association and have them do it, have them present us with some type of estimate, then we’ll come back at the next meeting and conduct the meeting and we’ll see the prices that he has.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Ok, if you want to do it that way that makes perfect sense, no problem.
Mr. Ocean: Ok, we’ll do it that way. I’d rather have more discussion.
Mr. Winkeljohn: I was just going to say if they could do it for under $5,000 we could authorize that now and if it’s more than that, you’re going to want to look at it, that’s the level of threshold I was thinking.
Mr. Ocean: I think that’s a great education for us all to hear and now it’s on the record, so let’s just run with that. I personally don’t think we need to do it right now and move on that, we’ve been sitting on this for years.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Right, so what’s the rush, I got it.
Mr. Ocean: But I think it would be responsible for us to also do that as well.

Mr. Murphy: Why don’t we go low if it’s under $5,000.
Mr. Ocean: Well, they’re not doing it, it’s going to be HOA.
Mr. Murphy: He wants to see what it costs. (inaudible comment)
Mr. Hillard: Just have the HOA investigate and come back to us and tell us what’s involved.
Mr. Ocean: Right, you know what, when we get amount, and this is important and this is going to be a fast meeting Paul, we can convene when we don’t have things to talk and go on months without talking, and understandably so but, it’s only the lake, so I think we can all get together.
Mr. Winkeljohn: I think that’s great, let’s do it.
Mr. Ocean: Alright, then that’s what my suggestion would be.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Ok, so if you want to include me in reaching out to the HOA I can give them some guidance if they have any doubt or some questions, I’m happy to participate.
Mr. Ocean: Absolutely. (inaudible comment)
Mr. Winkeljohn: And it’s important to understand if I get involved with the maintenance account person, then they thing they have two bosses and it’s easier for whoever your HOA person is be the face and voice.
Mr. Ocean: Ok, don’t worry about it.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Alright, and I’m happy to reach out and get that price.
Mr. Ocean: Thank you and there’s also the meeting, and this is what the Board wants to do, can you please help us.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Yes, I know how to do it, I just wanted to honor the arrangement but, if that’s reality, let’s do it that way.
Mr. Ocean: Thank you.
Mr. Winkeljohn: No problem, I got it. Anything else for us? Mr. Ocean: (inaudible comment)
Mr. Hillard: (inaudible comment) Mr. Ocean: (inaudible comment)
(At this point several people were talking at one time, and no one conversation could be heard)

Mr. Winkeljohn: And there’s no details to that level yet but, we’re pretty sure that they’ll do the right thing.
Mr. Hillard: Ok.
Mr. Ocean: (inaudible comment) It’s really only one thing I want our weir to discharge into there and down their upstream so we don’t have to deal with this down here. (inaudible comment) Now, they don’t touch it because it’s an easement. (inaudible comment) So, that’s my only focus, alright I just wanted the Board to know that I talked to you about that.
Mr. Winkeljohn: Excellent. Mr. Hillard: Ok.
Mr. Ocean: All good.
(At this point several people were talking at one time, and no one conversation could be heard)

Mr. Winkeljohn: So, we need to clean something, is that what you’re saying?
Mr. Murphy: Yes, clean the pipes between the two lakes because that lake appears to be higher than this lake is out front.
Mr. Winkeljohn: I mean that’s not a bad idea, you don’t have a lot of drainage lines but, it’s a good practice, I thought the HOA had that task of inspecting and cleaning the drainage lines which would include any lake interconnectivity.
Mr. Ocean: Ok, the HOA did before the storms I remember. (inaudible comment) Mr. Hillard: It used to be the CDD responsibility.
(At this point several people were talking at one time, and no one conversation could be heard)

Mr. Longardo: I remember I had them clean the drains before any storm, do you remember that?
Mr. Winkeljohn: So, I have to talk to the lake contractor, I can go ahead and have a drain company do an inspection and if any of the catch basins exceed their depth or close to it, we have it done.
Mr. Longardo: Ok.
Mr. Winkeljohn: So, that’s a little bigger job but they put a camera in there and they run the camera down the pipe, and inspect it.

Mr. Longardo: Ok, and that’s a good point, so can we look into that?
Mr. Winkeljohn: There’s more than one variable in this discussion and the front lake has always had a much lower level in drought periods, the reason it’s lower, once they’re both at or below their control height, you’re at the water table then and the water table is lower this time of year. So, we can inspect it, we have the plans, it’s a good exercise to do.
Mr. Longardo: Ok, thank you.
Mr. Winkeljohn: You got it, anything else?

TENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Adjournment
Mr. Winkeljohn: Is there a motion to adjourn?

On MOTION by Mr. Ocean seconded by Mr. Murphy with all in favor, the meeting was adjourned.

Chairman / Vice Chairman

Secretary /Assistant Secretary

Certificate Of Completion

Envelope Id: C7814867-F656-4F57-B7ED-B17AFF982F33	Status: Completed Subject: Copper Oaks: Complete with Docusign: 4-23-25 Minutes.pdf, Resolution 2026-01.docx, Engagement Letter
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Record Tracking		
Status: Original
3/24/2026 5:43:52 AM	Holder: Ellen Acosta
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Signer Events	Signature	Timestamp	
Paul Winkeljohn pwinkeljohn@gmssf.com Executive Director	
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Robert A. Hillard robhillardcdd@gmail.com Chairman
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